20090104

S'poreans' top worry – jobs

HAVING a rice bowl - and eating from it - matters most to Singaporeans.

A new survey has found that even before Singapore announced it was in a technical recession in October, Singaporeans' greatest fears were unemployment and insufficient food.

Synovate, a global market research company, surveyed the consumer attitudes of 7,400 respondents in 10 countries, between the months of August and November.

The firm found that four out of 10 Singaporeans listed 'losing my job' as their top fear going into a recession.

Their second biggest fear was not having enough food.

Indeed, when asked which items they would first give up when tightening their belts, none of those surveyed said they would cut back on food.

Nearly three out of 10 Singaporeans said holidays would be the first to go. Next on the list was branded items - which 18 per cent of respondents said they would cut out first - while 13 per cent would forgo high-tech gadgets.

Companies across all sectors are retrenching staff. The latest figures show that the resident unemployment rate in Singapore is at 3.3 per cent, up from 3.1 per cent in the previous quarter.

US private employers cut 250,000 jobs in November, an unexpectedly large number and the biggest in seven years, while the service sector, which powers most of the economy, posted its worst slump on record.

Wednesday's reports were the latest signs that the slide in the US job market is nowhere near bottom and suggested Friday's government payrolls report could exceed current expectations for 320,000 job losses in November.

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